


Seeking Warmth

by the1eyedtree



Series: Dimiclaude Birthday Week 2020 [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Caught in a Storm, Cold and Warmth, Day 2, Dimiclaude Birthday Week (Fire Emblem), Hand Jobs, Hypothermia, Injured Claude, M/M, Surprise Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:20:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25984282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the1eyedtree/pseuds/the1eyedtree
Summary: Day 2 of Dimiclaude Birthday Week -- Theme: Cold & Warmth, Almyra & Faerghus, Horseback & Wyvern RidingDimtiri found and saved Claude from being caught in a blizzard storm while injured. They'll have to rely on each other for warmth to survive the night.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Claude von Riegan
Series: Dimiclaude Birthday Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1883053
Comments: 3
Kudos: 53





	Seeking Warmth

**Author's Note:**

> Don't mind the fact that I'm a day late on this one lol

When last anyone had been within these walls, the rotting wood of the cabin did not know. All that was ever present was the harsh freeze of northern Faerghus. Not even the sweet sun of summer could bring relief to the old wood. Each year only brought more rot, more holes, and more abandon.

Were the cabin sentient, it would have been surprised when its door was kicked in. All these years of silent stillness shattered in an instant. The howling of the wind brought on by a storm filled the small cabin with noise and rain. There was not much refuge this broken place could offer, but it was their only chance.

Dimitri grunted in effort as he dragged Claude into the hovel. Lightning flashed and gave him a fleeting chance to scope the place out. The cold, biting wind nipped at them, almost teasingly pushing them farther into the cabin. If any of these rotting piles of wood had ever been considered furniture, that time had long passed. Dimitri was yanked back to the present when Claude moaned at his side, still unconscious. Dimitri had lost all sense of gentleness in these years alone. But enough of his mind recognized the need to not allow Claude anymore injury. He loosened his grip on the man and watched his body crumple to the floor, catching his head before it could connect with the worn stone floor and laying it down with more care than he thought he was capable of.

Another flash of lightning allowed Dimitri to see how uncharacteristically pale Claude was – he was running out of time. With renewed urgency, Dimitri shoved the barely intact door back in its place to keep at least _some_ of the wind from blowing in the rain and sleet. Were he anything like he should’ve been, Dimitri would’ve been able to use a healing spell on Claude.

But he was but a monster….a corpse of the would be king.

Faith had left him long ago.

Dimitri dug around the saddle bag he had also been dragging with him. _Surely someone like Claude would – ah there it is_. Dimitri fished out an elixir and looked over Claude to assess the damage. Blood was staining his outer coat on his right side, his arm didn’t look…..correct, and he sounded pained when Dimitri brushed over his hips. If the elixir wasn’t enough….

Dimitri bit the cork out of the bottle, and with a gentleness that felt impossible he poured the elixir down Claude’s throat. The Duke swallowed instinctively but whimpered in agony as the elixir fulfilled its purpose. Dimitri remained still as he watched Claude writhe on the floor. Claude’s eyes burst open and he sucked in a gasping breath. A chill took root in Dimitri’s soul as he watched Claude panic for the first time since he had known him. He couldn’t blame him. Waking up to pain, darkness, and a dead man was most certainly unpleasant. Claude attempted to say something but only succeeded in coughing. He curled in on himself as he tried to catch his breath. If the elixir had failed to heal any injury to his lungs, Dimitri knew he would likely have to put Claude out of his misery.

But Claude caught his breath and a distantly familiar feeling of the past clawed at Dimitri’s mind. What was this feeling?

 _Relief_.

Claude looked around, the darkness of the cabin working against him. But his clever eyes were back on Dimitri soon enough, no doubt piecing everything together. Another first for Dimitri was to see Claude be so _shocked_. His mouth was agape and his eyes wide, he sat there frozen as he stared at Dimitri.

“Di-…y-your princliness??”

That name no longer belonged to Dimitri. He was neither prince nor king, only a walking corpse. So, he did not answer Claude. But Claude did not need him to answer and kept speaking.

“I had a feeling you had survived – but, no, those questions can wait, what happened to lead us here??” Claude had the audacity to look upon Dimitri with hope. Dimitri eyed him and decided that he was healed enough to survive, so now would be an excellent time to leave. “Dimitri, did..did you save me?”

“Your wyvern is dead.” Dimitri turns before he could see Claude’s reaction and pulled the broken door back so he could step through.

“Hey wait!” Claude’s words and reaching arm were not enough to stop Dimitri. However, the universe _was_.

Dimitri only took one step outside the cabin before a lightning bolt connected harshly with the ground about 10 meters in front of him. He didn’t even have a chance to voluntarily jump back. The electrified force from the lighting strike was enough to send him flying backwards with a yelp. He landed on his ass, but something stopped his momentum before his skull could crack against the stone floor. His ears were ringing, but the muted sounds of Claude’s voice danced into his mind. The wind was cruel and kicked up, blowing in more of the freezing rain. Claude got up from behind Dimitri and started trying to force the broken door back into place. Adrenaline was Dimitri’s only comfort in this existence, and it urged him up onto his feet. He shoved the door back into its spot and took a few steps back.

“….okay?”

“What?”

“ _Are you okay?_ ” Claude was looking at Dimitri, worry evident in his face but….something warmer danced in his eyes.

“I….” Dimitri looked down at himself and did not see or feel any injuries. “I was not hurt.” They both stood there for a few moments, Dimitri was unsure what to do now. But soon he noticed that Claude was shivering. All of Claude’s attention was now funneled into finding proper shelter from the cold. 

“Sh-should make a fire, is there a chimney? Some of this wood is dry enough to b-burn…” Dimitri watched as Claude muttered and searched around the small cabin. Claude reached down and pulled at some rotting cloth and gasped. “Hey! _HAY_ _!!_ ” Claude turned to Dimitri with a smirk and gestured to the surprisingly preserved hay that was under the material. Claude’s breath caught in his throat as something glimmered in Dimitri’s eye. Claude seemed to recall that a certain prince of Faerghus had an adorable love of puns and jokes.

But Dimitri did not laugh. The fleeting glimmer of light in his eye gave way to darkness. Claude turned his attention back to their survival. He started gathering up some wood and piled it up. Now he just needed his – oh…oh right his poor wyvern….

“I d-don’t suppose you have anything to s-start a fire?” Claude wasn’t able to sound completely nonchalant like he had meant to. Dimitri simply nodded his head to the saddlebag. “M-my bag!!”

“It was attached to you when you fell…”

“…Right.” Claude hadn’t let himself think too hard about how he ended up here, and he didn’t intend to do so until he was _safe_. He knelt down buy his saddle bag and fished out his fire-starting tools. He began trying to scrape the flint on the steel but his hands…he fumbled with the flint and dropped it. He remained a practiced calm, but his teeth were chattering, and his hands were trembling so much that his attempts to pick the flint back up were futile. A large shadow was suddenly by his side. Dimitri reached past him and grabbed the flint. He quickly got a small fire going and glanced at Claude. To say that at least he looked better than earlier would be completely unfair. His bones may have mended, and his bleeding stopped, but Claude was clearly very ill-suited to be stuck out in a blizzard storm like what this one had evolved into. Now that Dimitri really looked at him, he could see that Claude didn’t have much time left before the cold would bring him to his end. Another part of Dimitri pointed out that he himself also needed to get warm soon. Claude was trying to warm himself by the small fire rather insufficiently.

“You are doing it wrong.” Claude side-eyed Dimitri, annoyance evident in his posture. Dimitri did not care. If he was going to have to stay there, he was at least not going to freeze. His mission was not complete, dying here would dissatisfy the dead. Dimitri watched Claude for a few more moments before agreeing with his earlier observation that Claude had little time left. “Take off anything wet.”

Claude’s chin tilted up as he processed the order in his mind. In the past perhaps, Dimitri would have allowed Claude the time to go at his own pace, but right now and with his current mindset, Dimitri was not going to allow _manners_ to endanger them. He tugged at Claude’s outer cape which earned him quite the offended look from the Duke. It mattered not, his cape was wet with rain and blood, his pants too. Luckily, the fine leather of his gloves and boots would ensure that his hands and feet were dry. Dimitri tapped the golden pauldron on Claude’s shoulder.

“Off,” he instructed as he assessed the state of Claude’s other cape and his coat. His longer cape was also soaked and needed to come off. Claude had bled through his coat before but it’s more dry than not now. For all his talent and dexterity, Claude had made _zero_ progress undressing himself. Dimitri grabbed the pauldron in frustration and yanked it off of him and tossed it to the side, ignoring the sparks of fear and uncertainty in the green eyes that stared back at him. He pulled off the capes, then decided he needed to get everything else ready before dealing with Claude’s pants. Dimitri went over to the hay that Claude found and took the rotting material that was thankfully dry. He laid it on the ground near but not too close to the fire. He started laying the hay out and kept some to the side to insulate their clothes with. He completely ignored Claude’s protests as he looked through the man’s saddle bag. _Jackpot_.

Dimitri pulled out a few scarves and little boxes of food. He placed the food by the hay and returned to Claude, wrapping one of the scarves around his head to protect his ears. He did the same to himself. Claude had stopped complaining and was quiet as Dimitri quickly tore off his pants and shoved hay anywhere he could to keep the man warm. Claude remained still, like cornered prey that knew there was no escape. Dimitri made quick work of his own armor and shoved hay between the layers of his shirts. He shook out his cloak which was fortunately designed for this very weather. They should be fine if they lay chest to chest with the cloak wrapped around them. Dimitri pulled at Claude’s arm and wrapped the cloak around him. 

Dimitri tugged Claude down to the ground and laid on top of him. Claude mumbled something under his breath that Dimitri did not catch as he was too busy wrapping the rest of the cloak around him. Something primal worked its way down Dimitri’s spine as he felt Claude tremble under him. He reached for some of the food and held it to Claude’s lips.

“Eating will help,” he murmured, softer now that he and Claude were less in danger. Claude ate what he was given and pushed some of the food to Dimitri’s mouth.

“You t-too…” Dimitri ate the last few bites and pulled the cloak tighter around them. They would likely be here for a long while, storms like this didn’t tend to let up for at least a day. Dimitri laid his head to the left of Claude’s head, ignoring the strange smell of the hay and stone floor. Claude’s mind must have regained clarity from the claws of hypothermia because he began to speak clearly again. “So, we wait out the storm like this then, yeah?”

“Yes.”

“What else can we do to stay warm?” Claude was still shivering. Dimitri pulled away a little and unbuttoned his shirts enough to expose his chest, and he did the same to Claude who sharply inhaled from the cold air touching his previously unexposed skin. Dimitri laid back down to allow their skin to touch. Claude’s body was quite cold, but Dimitri’s must have still been warm because Claude’s breath hitched, and his eyes fluttered shut.

“Better?”

Claude nodded and mumbled a pleased “mm-hmm…”

They laid there for a while, Dimitri as usual felt blind to the passing minutes as the ghosts begged for his attention.

“Dimitri?” Claude’s tone was light, conversational and therefore not urgent, so Dimitri ignored him. Because of the way they were laying, Claude couldn’t tell if Dimitri was awake as he could only see his eyepatch. But Claude was persistent. “I don’t know how you managed it, but I’m glad you’re alive – I would be a popsicle right now if it weren’t for you.”

“Just another step towards revenge…”

“…right, I take it you’re still after Edelgard?”

“I will have her head.”

“ _In the meantime_ , should we be moving around or anything to not freeze?”

“This is…enough.” Claude was quiet for some time after that.

“Is your face cold? Mine is.” Dimitri’s only answer was to shift the cloak to fall on Claude’s face. “Thanks, but this is how people suffocate.” Dimitri huffed in annoyance and rolled onto his side, pulling Claude up on his side as well so their chests could remain touching. He made sure the cloak was tight around them and could feel Claude nestle his face into his neck. Claude was thankful he had a high tolerance for….not so pleasant scents. On the surface, Dimitri smelled like…someone who’s bathed in blood more than water. It was probably safe to assume that Dimitri had not properly bathed in a long while. But underneath the layer of death and sweat, was the familiar musk of Dimitri himself. Claude was surprised that he even had that scent kept away in his memory.

It’s not like he spent a lot of time close enough to the prince to glean such intimate details. But there were those nights where they would bump into each other on their way back from the library and training grounds.

Nights that Claude thought about with something akin to regret, having seemingly lost the chance to get closer to Dimitri. Would the prince have joined him for late night tea if he’d asked? Knowing that Dimitri was alive had his heart skipping in a way he was completely unfamiliar with. Claude let out a shaky breath – the cold still holding him hostage. He needed to distract himself or he was going to lose his mind. He berated himself for getting into this situation in the first place – he should have recognized the kinds of clouds he was flying into. If he had corrected his course his wyvern would still be alive, and he wouldn’t be stuck in some rundown hovel in the middle of a blizzard.

But he wouldn’t have found Dimitri….

Claude got lost in his thoughts about how this could impact the war, and about whatever horrors Dimitri must have seen. Oh no…this was not the path his thoughts should have been going. _If they’re stuck here like this…..the Alliance needed him to come back – the war could be lost by the time he got back. If he got back…his hopes….his dreams….._

“Do not cry – that will not help.” Crying? Who Claude?? _Never_ …But the anxiety did not lessen. Even if they survived the blizzard how would Claude get back to Derdriu? _He was stranded_ …

_Good job idiot, you didn’t even have a destination, you were just flying to get away from the council because of what? They said horrible things about Almyra? They do that every day, what’s new? You’ll never achieve anything at this rate._

Dimitri watched as Claude tried and failed to move past his anxiety. Something…of the past spoke up in his mind and pointed out that Claude needed comforting. They could both do with a distraction. But what would work? Dimitri didn’t have the words Claude needed to hear. A distant memory of a certain redhead joking about _distractions_ took root in Dimitri’s mind. Such things would surely be better than Claude crying and getting them both wet and causing them more danger from hypothermia.

Claude had pulled his face back from Dimitri’s neck in an effort to catch his breath. So, it was easy for Dimitri to lean his head down and press his lips to Claude’s. The Duke went rigid out of surprise. Dimitri remained still, more so because he really did not know what to do past this part.

Claude was debating with himself. On one hand, kissing could lead to feelings, which led to relationships, which led to complicated political ventures…But on the other? _Dimitri was kissing him_. It was really hard, no _impossible_ , to ignore the fact that Claude didn’t want him to stop.

_They could freeze to death, why not indulge?_

Claude closed his eyes and pressed his lips more attentively to Dimitri’s, finally participating in the kiss. Dimitri let Claude take the lead as it appeared he knew what he was doing. But instinctively, he wanted to pin Claude to the ground and….Claude’s tongue swiped along Dimitri’s lower lip, and all coherent thought came to a screeching halt. Dimitri parted his lips, and that clever tongue slipped its way into his mouth. Dimitri held on to Claude, pressing their bodies even closer and rubbing his thumb over Claude’s chest. It caught the edge of the material of his clothes, and he pulled them back a little. He felt Claude shiver before he realized he was rubbing over Claude’s nipple.

A light moan sounded from the back of Claude’s throat, and Dimitri decided that he wanted to do anything he could to get him to make that sound again. Dimitri found that he no longer felt the cold, his mind was so focused on the feeling of Claude’s pliant lips on his. He wanted… _more_. Dimitri kissed down Claude’s jaw. Claude gasped for breath and wiggled his arms up to hold on to Dimitri.

This was _certainly_ not where Claude thought he was going to end up today. He wasn’t sure if there was any emotion behind Dimitri’s actions, or if he was spurred on by pure animalistic need. _And he really wasn’t sure which situation he preffered_ …

Dimitri sunk his teeth into Claude – just shy of being hard enough to break skin.

“D- _Dimitri_ -ah!” This wouldn’t do if Claude was _in real danger_. Before Claude could start thinking about how he was at the mercy of a man who might actually be feral, Dimitri started lavishing where he bit him with his tongue. _That shouldn’t feel that good_. Claude sucked in a breath of frigid air and could feel heat pooling in his belly. _Would they go further than this?_

_Does he even want this to stop?_

Claude rolled his hips experimentally and gasped. Dimitri pressed his lips to Claude’s skin and sucked a mark next to where he had bit him. He ground his hips forward and grunted. He ground against Claude again and dug his fingers into Claude with bruising strength. Claude could only yelp when Dimitri rolled them both so that Claude was on his back. He caught a glimpse of an animalistic gleam in Dimitri’s eyes as the other bracketed Claude’s head with his arms. Dimitri was breathing hard….and _was_ hard. Claude felt him protruding through his pants as he rubbed against Claude’s body. The friction felt amazing, both because it was generating more warmth between them, and because it sent sparks of pleasure throughout his body.

Claude reached between them and tried to work his hand into his breeches, but Dimitri was pressed too close to him. Dimitri glanced down, having noticed what Claude was doing. He reached his own hand between them and clawed at Claude to free his dick. Claude blushed at the thought that he was enjoying this more than he would have previously thought he would. Dimitri crashed his lips back to Claude’s with way more force than necessary. Claude grunted and hissed a little when he felt something wet dribble down his chin. Dimitri pulled back a little, and Claude saw the smear of his own blood on his chin. Dimitri fussed with something in between them and then Claude felt it…

Soft warmth rubbed against his dick. Claude’s eyes fluttered shut, and a gloved hand wrapped around both his dick and Dimitri’s.

 _Goddess_ ….when last was he touched like this? Claude hadn’t even had the time to touch himself in the last….year? At least? Dimitri curled around Claude and moved his hand. Claude clung to him and moaned. Dimitri reached up and gripped Claude’s hair with his other hand.

It was rough.

It was a bit messy.

But gods did Claude love how it felt.

Dimitri growled and nipped at Claude’s neck again, earning him another moan. Neither of them was going to last long like this – especially when Dimitri started kissing up Claude’s jaw. Their lips met again, much gentler this time. _Much gentler_. The pressure built within both of them, and with a grunt and a gasp, they both came. The world faded away from Claude’s perception – he was only vaguely aware of Dimitri moving around a little. Something soft rubbed across Claude’s lip where he had been bleeding, and then there was a tender kiss being pressed to his lips. Everything about this kiss felt so different from the rabid hand job he just received. Dimitri pulled back enough to catch his breath.

“Dimitri…”

“Claude…

Lightning flashed menacingly outside, but both of them felt warm and safe.

**Author's Note:**

> Day 3 will be combined with Day 4 ;) Thanks for reading!!


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